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Thursday, February 22, 2007

This little quilt block is on its way to Australia. If it gets there in time, it will be added to more blocks that were all made by quilters throughout the world in red, black and white. The blocks will be sewn together and the finished product sold on Ebayto raise money for MS. Check out this site for more information.

About a week ago I made this little pin cushion. It is only about two inches tall and two inches wide. I wanted it to be simple yet fun. I dumped out my notions baskets (which seem to get totally out of order even after I sort them) and found this nice little wooden button. I can't seem to remember where I found the button. Since I have only one, I'm guessing I cut it off something. I do think it has been in my basket for years and years. Maybe it was on a bag of some sort. Anyway, I have always liked the design on the top of the button and tried to replicate it with French Knots and embroidery on the side to embellish the cushion a bit. The embroidery is actually what took the longest.Oh, and by the way, the cushion is stuffed with polyfil and rice. I always use brown rice for my pincushions to make sure they are as healthy as can be.

The fabric you see under the cushion is for a quilt I am working on. The uncut flowered fabric I found at this great fabric store in Lancaster County. I can never remember the name of it but know how to get there. I loved this fabric for it's old time charm. I haven't had time to start sewing it yet but hope to soon. I'll keep you updated. Also on Saturday, my friend Paulette is taking me to a quilting fabric shop she discovered in the northern end of Lancaster County (out in the country). I can't wait. I'll try to take some pictures of our trip.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Well I haven't posted in a while but I have been busy. I have this terrible habit of making things for people and forgetting to take a picture of the item before giving it away.This is a little guy I started making for Valentine's day. Nathan wanted a cat and I had this pattern. Both our cats have some grey in them so I thought I'd use grey felt. I didn't get it finished for Valentine's Day but finished it while sitting at the school table a few days later. Somehow, this little guy looks more like a mouse than a cat. I think it is his beady little eyes and grey color. We got a kick out of it and I thought you might too.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

This morning I grabbed my cup of coffee and sat at the computer to see if I had sold any more books on Amazon before I head out to the post office. Then I thought, "Oh, lets see what all those nice sewing-blog-ladies have been up to."

I think I have an addiction. I can't look at just one. And when I look at one, that one leads to another one. I guess the only good thing about this addiction is that it feeds my brain with ideas.

The thing I really wanted to post was a link to Old School Acres where she talks about wool felt. I think I am becoming passionate about this felt (why, oh, why can't I ever be passionate about something that is inexpensive???). Check out her site and the great "lesson" on acrylic vs. wool felt. Here's my newest stash. I have a few ideas but I'll keep those to myself for the time being.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

After seeing these lovely pincushions several weeks ago, I was inspired to attempt my own. My pin cushion has always been the sturdy tomato which I will now keep in my travel sewing box.

I love yellow and this summer Nolan planted lots of Giant Sunflowers in our back yard and in front of the house. In fact, now that I am writting about it, I realized that a few sunflower heads are still hanging up in the garage. Hmmmm....I better check on those.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

I have wanted to try to sew the Sacred Heart of Jesus image for some time. I am part of a wonderful Bible Study at church with some fantastic women. One of the women made me some tapes for my car and did it so quickly that I was stunned (it always takes me so long to remember that I promised someone something!). I wanted to thank her in a special way and so I decided to try to sew the Sacred Heart. I was pleased with how it came out and she was so thrilled to receive it. The Sacred Heart is a powerful devotion and I wanted to share it.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

I haven't posted for a while because I have been working on a new project. This project has nothing to do with sewing, more to do with my need to de-clutter my life. My kids want to have a game room in our basement in a bad way. Due to the fact that we live in a 100+ year old house, our basement isn't game room friendly. However, I have been thinking long and hard about the amount of "stuff" we have in the basement, and how cluttered it was looking when I would go down to do the laundry.

I convinced the kids that if we got rid of a lot of the boxes of old books and toys that are in the basement, that we could make space to have some kind of rumpus room. To say that they were beyond excitement is downplaying their response. So, on one of those grey, cold days when my boredom with sitting in the schoolroom was at its peak, I began to carry boxes up into our hallway and dinning room. I found about eight boxes of children's books, three boxes of canning jars, three boxes of old tapes, three or four boxes of non-children's books, four boxes of toys I was saving for the grandkids, eight guitar cases, two or three big road cases for guitars and amplifiers (remember, my husband is a REAL MUSICIAN), and various other sundries like pillows I was going to "make over" someday.A trip to the Goodwill drop-off and two trips to the library book drop-off decreased the junk factor by a small margin. I also was able to sell quite a few books on Amazon.

The basement still isn't in good enough shape for a game room (walls need repair and floor needs painted) but at least it will look better for the guys dropping off my new washer tomorrow.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

After making the crazy circles Snail's Trail quilt, I wanted to get the pattern down pat, so I made this gray and black square quilt. The quilting on this one is more formal, with the same design on each square and half square. The quilting didn't come out well in the picture so you'll just have to trust me on this one. I have this hanging above the piano by two nails. I need to get some hardware up there!

One note....notice how the colors blend with the picture of my Plain Mennonite grandparents. I do crave the simple life (although if my parents heard me say that their life on the farm was simple, I'm not sure what they would say....).